


So Dance Alone to the Beat of Your Heart

by heartbeatsinreverse



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alcohol, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, Blood, Blood Drinking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Drinking, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Panic Attacks, Tattoos, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 03:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3312962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbeatsinreverse/pseuds/heartbeatsinreverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dan's friend PJ jokingly sends him to a vampire bar, he's not expecting him to return with a date. As their relationship advances, outside tensions rise as an anti-discrimination bill for vampires rises through Parliament. </p><p>Complete with asexual Dan and Phil having an adorable, loving relationship, with a side of blood-drinking on Phil's part. Sorry this summary is crap, but basically it's adorable and the combination of domestic fluff and vampirism you didn't know you needed until now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Dance Alone to the Beat of Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by Taking Every Chance I've Got, by northerndanpour and Rhensis. I decided to write the fluffy, ace side of the 'Phil is a vampire' coin, but if you like heavier angst and sexytimes, go read their fic. Like, right now. It's super good.  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/2406506/chapters/5322230
> 
> I also created a playlist for this fic, which can be found at http://8tracks.com/aquifergirl/blessed-be-the-boys-time-can-t-capture

      Dan is in some very, very deep shit. He had heard about this new club from PJ, and Dan had thought PJ was being vague, but he had chalked it up to the game of Halo they were playing at the time. Dan _certainly_ hadn’t considered that his asshole friend would send him to a fucking _vampire bar_.

     Had Dan ever shown even a glimmer of interest in having his throat ripped open? No, and  now he’s uncomfortably trapped in a room with people who think he gets his rocks off to being exsanguinated. Not that he has a problem with people who do, he’s just not particularly into sex at all, let alone sex with the possibility of his imminent demise. Regardless, he had had to pay twenty pounds to get in, and he was _not_ leaving without getting something out of the trip. Dan stumbles through various dancers playing increasingly scary and aggressive games of tongue hockey, and manages to catch the attention of the bartender.

     “ ‘Evening, what d’you want? We have iron boosting smoothies in pomegranate, grape-”

     Dan hunches in on himself slightly at the assumption that he is a vampire junkie, and responds,  “Actually, I’m looking for alcohol?”, which is meant to be a statement but sort of lilts up at the end as Dan considers the possibility that they don’t serve any. Most vamps hated the aftertaste of any drugs, even caffeine. His forehead wrinkles while he waits for the bartender to reply.

     “Unfort’nately, we don’t have a license to serve. Can I interest you in somethin else?”

     “Umm, the pomegranate smoothie I guess?”

     “Comin’ right up!”

     Dan hadn’t really wanted to order something non-alcoholic, but dealing with salespeople of any kind had never really been his strong suit. After waiting around and grabbing his drink, he shuffles around the edges of the bustling room to get to one of the few unoccupied tables. Dan sits back in his chair and watches people dance and talk and leave the room via an extremely ominous dark hallway, always in pairs; one pale, one not. Sitting and nursing his smoothie (which he’s already drunk half of), Dan is actually considering not violently attacking PJ for this, when an extremely pale, blond man sits down at his table and starts looking at him like he looks at a bag of Malteasers.

     “Hey honey, how ‘bout you and me go in the back?”

     Dan swallows, and mutters quickly, “Oh, I’m sorry, I know I’m drinking this smoothie, but it’s just because they didn’t have anything stronger, I’m not really interested in-”

     The blond man interrupts him,

     “Well, you can’t just lead someone on like that! Some people don’t like that so much.”

     And he’s showing his teeth, and Dan is very, very worried, and no one knows he’s here, PJ doesn’t even know he’s here, and the music’s too loud and the man is leaning closer and-

     “Hey.”

     Blondie leans back as a tall, black haired dude comes to the rescue, and Dan has never been this relieved; although that relief lessens considerably as Dan takes in the newcomer’s extremely pale skin.

     The new guy nods towards Blondie, and looks at Dan. “Is this guy bothering you?”and then he immediately switches to Blondie:

     “Hey man, you know we’re not supposed to pressure people into anything. Why don’t you go find one of the dozen people in this room that actually _want_ to be bitten?”

     With this, Blondie sneers at Dan, gets up, and disappears into the mass of people throughout the room.

     As soon as he’s out of sight, Dan’s face sort of crumples, and the guy immediately notices, because Dan can’t get any breaks today apparently.

     “Hey man, it’s okay, that dude was being a douchebag, we’re never allowed to do stuff like that. I’ll report him if you want, I just figured you wanted him gone. Do you want   me to call a friend for you or something? To pick you up?”

     Dan shakes his head, breathing in and out slowly to try and regain his composure.

     “No, it’s okay, I’ll be okay in a second. The only friend who’d pick up right now is the one who suggested this place to me, and I’d rather not add homicide to my list of ways this evening has fucked me over.”

     “Yeah, okay, I can see your point. So what’s your name?”

     Dan smiles shakily,

     “Dan. What’s your name, because right now I just have to refer to you as ‘the vampire that didn’t try to eat me’.”

     The man laughs.

     “My name’s Phil. How did you know…?”

     Dan snorts.

     “What, that you were a vampire? As a general rule of thumb, if you’re paler than me, you are _definitely_ a creature of the night.”

     Phil laughs, really laughs, and Dan starts laughing too because he’s tired and filled with adrenaline and just wants to let off steam, and soon enough they’re both collapsing into fits of giggles.

     Phil finally manages to suppress the giggles, and chokes out, “So, if you didn’t come for the fangs, why did you come? For the hot vampire sex?”

     Dan grimaces, and responds,

     “Actually, I just like clubs and bars. They have so many people, and I love watching how people talk and interact. Umm, yeah. Sorry, that’s weird.”

     Phil smiles thinly (to make sure his fangs don’t show, presumably to make Dan feel comfortable, which is… he’ll think about that later), and says, “No, Dan, I totally get it! I was a sociology major, and people watching has always been really interesting.”

     Dan tilts his head slightly, and says,“Was?”

     Phil ducks his head and chuckles.

     “Yeah, I was taking sociology at London Met before I, uhh…”

     Dan interjects, “Became one of Dracula’s nefarious minions?”

     Phil laughs slightly more at that, and says, “Yeah. I was walking home last year-”

     “Last year!?!”

     Phil stares at Dan for a minute, and Dan blushes and nods for him to continue.

     “Anyway, walking home last year, wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, and got mugged. The guy didn’t bother threatening, he just stabbed me. He grabbed my wallet and ran off, and a few minutes later a passing vampire couple smelled me. They called 999, but I was bleeding way too fast. The woman asked me if I wanted to live, and I said I did, so she turned me. They looked after me for a few weeks, made sure I had a support system, then I moved back to my flat. After that, I figured I had pretty much forever to do what I wanted, so the degree could wait a while.”

     Dan sits for a minute trying to process Phil’s story, and then says, “So did you really want to be a vampire?”

     Phil shrugs, and states, “It was really the only choice I had, but if I had an option other than death or vampirism, I would have taken it. Everyone thinks it’s great to be a vampire, because of the immortality and multitudes of hot people interested in getting it on with us, but immortality is overrated, and I’m not really into- I don’t really care how seductive I am.

     “Really?”

     Phil whips his head up to look at Dan, and starts pushing his chair back.

     “Well, it’s been great chatting with you, but you’re probably not going to be attacked again, so-”

     “Phil, wait! Please sit back down. I didn’t mean that to come out… like that. Wow, my grammar teacher is definitely rolling in her grave.”

     Phil cautiously lowers himself back into his chair.

     Dan explains, “I’m sorry, I know how that sounded, but that wasn’t meant to be a ‘Wow, that’s weird, I-don’t-believe-you’ really, it was meant as a shocked, ‘Wow, I finally found another person who doesn’t like sex’ really.”

     Phil’s jaw drops.

     “Wait, seriously? I thought I was just weird or wired wrong or something.”

     Dan smiles.

     “Nope, you’re perfectly normal. It is nice to find someone else like me, though.”

     “Awesome! When di-”

     Phil stops talking and doubles over, clutching his head and grimacing.

     “Phil! What’s wrong?”

     He straightens up slightly to aim a tight smile at Dan, and shakes his head.

     “It’s nothing. I just haven’t fed in a while, and need to go find a blood-bank soon. I get headaches occasionally. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

     Dan squints his eyes, and runs his fingers through his hair.

     “Why would you go to a blood-bank? I thought chilled blood tasted pretty nasty. And there are plenty of people here who would be happy to let you drink their blood.”

     Phil frowns, and says, “Yeah, but everyone here wants me to drink their blood as a sexual thing. I’d much rather drink gross blood than have to act sexy with someone.”

     Dan nods in agreement. Phil smiles again, and goes back to massaging his temples. In the meantime, Dan starts thinking. He hasn’t ever had the opportunity to get bitten by someone who wasn’t also interested in his body, and he’s kind of intrigued. Plus, Phil is clearly a great guy, and from the way he’s holding his head, the headache is actually verging on migraine territory. So Dan ignores the nagging voice in the back of his head that sounds like a terrifying cross between PJ and his mum, and says, “You can have my blood, if you want.”

     Phil’s eyes snap up, and Dan has a single moment of shitshitshit, before Phil shakes his head and protests, “No, you don’t have to do that.”

     Dan shakes his head.

     “I’m not offering solely from the goodness of my heart. You’re the first person I could ask to do this who wouldn’t try to sleep with me as well. Plus, you saved me from a really bad situation with that other guy. I owe you a few pints of blood, at least.”

     Phil stares hard at Dan for a few seconds, and Dan holds very still and tries to look determined, and then Phil nods and Dan lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

     “So, do we head to the back, or…?”

     Phil shakes his head vehemently.

     “No way, it is absolutely disgusting back there. Be glad your sense of smell is so poor. I was thinking maybe we could go to my place? It’s only a few blocks from here, and it has Netflix.”

     Dan smiles.

     “Well, that clearly seals the deal. Lead the way, good sir.”

     They both get up to leave, when Dan looks down and sees the half-empty smoothie glass.

     “Hold on a second, I should actually probably finish this.”

     Phil smiles a little, and Dan sucks down as much of the beverage as he can in three long gulps, which results in the worst brain freeze he has ever had.

     “Owwowowwwowwwoww owwwwwww. Why did I do that?”

     Phil laughs, and grabs Dan’s arm.

     “C’mon, it’s warm outside, that’ll help. I think.”

     Dan groans.

     “Very reassuring.”

     Once they’re outside in the warm July air, and Dan can navigate on his own, Phil drops his arm. And Dan, in a spike of confidence, grabs his hand. That confidence vanishes almost instantly, and he can feel all of the blood rush to his cheeks, and then Phil laces their fingers together and swings their hands back and forth. Phil grins.

     “Dude, I’m probably going to be drinking your blood soon, holding hands is really not breaking any boundaries. Also, you’re cute when you blush.”

     Dan blushes, if possible, a deeper shade of red, and resumes watching where he is walking, with the biggest smile possible on his face. After several blocks of quiet chatter and nervous laughs, Phil stops in front of a small, four story building.

     “I’m the third floor flat on the left side, which is that one-” Phil points, “-the one with the small garden of plants on the terrace.”

     Dan laughs.

     “Phil, you know it’s dark out, right? I can barely see the building, let alone some plants.”

     “Ohhh. That was why you were so bad at I Spy.”

     “Duh.”

     Phil sticks out his tongue at Dan, and pulls him up to the door, which Phil unlocks after dropping the key twice.

     “Aren’t vampires supposed to be graceful?”

     Phil turns and glares at Dan.

     “I’ll have you know I am infinitely more graceful than I was when I was human.” His voice softens slightly. “Also, I’m a little bit nervous. I haven’t actually drunk from anyone in a while. Also, you keep blushing, which is really distracting.”

     Dan grins, grabs Phil’s hand again, and Phil pulls him inside the building.

     “Sorry, the elevators are out, we have to take the stairs.”

     “Well, call the whole thing off! I refuse to walk up three flights of stairs. Absolutely refuse.”

     Phil giggles, pokes Dan in the side, and quietly says, “Race you.”

     They both take off towards the stairs, and Dan knows it isn’t really a competition because Phil could beat him any day of the week, but Phil lets him keep up, and three flights of stairs later they collapse on the floor of the small hallway.

     “I-huh-won.”

     “No- huh-way-huh-you-huh-cheated.”

     A few minutes of labored breathing later, and Phil stands up and lowers a hand for Dan. Dan grabs it, and hauls himself up. They walk over together to what Dan can only assume is Phils’ door.

     “Excuse the mess, I don’t have visitors that often, and I wasn’t expecting-”

     “That’s okay, it can’t be worse than my place,” Dan reassures, and he’s starting to feel this twisting, fluttering sensation in his stomach as Phil unlocks the door.

     At first glance, the flat is a little cluttered with technology and furniture and papers, but it’s fairly large, and colorful, and Dan thinks it suits Phil perfectly.

     “So, ahh, do you want tea or something?”

     Dan definitely does want tea, but the butterflies in his stomach are making that seem like it is maybe not the best idea, so he replies,  “No thanks.”

     They both stand awkwardly for a moment, staring at each other, and then Dan blurts out,

     “So, is it going to be my arm, or my neck, or-”

     at the same time that Phil starts to ask,

     “Do you want to do this on the couch, or on my bed-”

     Phil stops and laughs.

     “Apparently we both have some questions. We should probably talk about this.”

     Phil gestures towards his slightly squished couch.

     “Shall we? I promise I won’t bite.”

     Dan huffs out a shaky laugh and slips past a pile of sci-fi movies and a small wooden table to sit on the couch next to Phil.

     Phil nods to Dan.

     “You first.”

     “Okay… is it going to be my arm, or my neck?”

     Phil shrugs, then says, “Whatever you’re comfortable with. I mean, arm is a little less terrifying, but neck is faster and lets the sedative circulate a lot faster.”

     “Sedative?”, Dan questions, raising his eyebrows.

     “Not like, an actual sedative. When we bite someone, it releases a little bit of calming agent, and it also dulls pain localized near the bite. I’m not drugging you.”

     Dan relaxes back into the sofa.

     “I guess my neck?”

     Phil smiles gently.

     “Okay then. My question was, did you want to do this out here, or on my bed?”

     Dan giggles.

     “I should have known this was all just a ploy to get me into your bed.”

     Phil rolls his eyes. Dan inclines his head towards what he assumes is the bedroom, and says, “Actually, I would kind of prefer the bed, just because I don’t want to fall off the couch and add head trauma to blood loss.”

     Phil nods, then reaches out his hand to Dan.

     “Shall we?”

     Dan reaches over to grab Phil’s hand, and maybe he’s holding on just a little bit too tight, but the most out-there thing he’s ever done is help with a graffiti once, and this is a thousand times more terrifying. Phil tugs gently on Dan’s hand, and nudges open the door with his foot. The bed is smallish, and has a pretty blue green bedspread that Dan worries abstractly about staining with blood. His pulse has picked up several ticks since entering, and Phil seems to be waiting for him to calm down, gently rubbing Dan’s knuckles with his thumb. After a few seconds of panic, Dan feels a little better, and pulls Phil over to the bed. After both sit down gently on the edge, Phil says, “It’s okay if you want to back out, we can stop.”

     Dan smiles at that, and takes Phil’s hand still wrapped up in his own and kisses it.

     “It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll tell you if I freak out or need to stop, Phil.”

     Phil smiles, and says quietly, “Okay.”

     And then he promptly jumps up and hits a light-switch, dimming the lights considerably.

     Phil sings out, “Moood lighting,” and Dan can’t help but laugh. The butterflies are less butterflies and more bats, or maybe large predatory birds, but Phil’s goofy sense of humor is helping lessen his anxiety a little. Phil walks back over, and sits down on the bed.

     “So, do we just go, or…”

     Dan’s face instantly hits five different expressions of nervous, and Phil stops mid-sentence.

     “Would you feel better if we, like… cuddled first?”

     Dan laughs, and says, “Is that an option?”

     Phil scoots back on the bed a bit, and pats next to him.

     “Come here.”

     Dan crawls over to him, and Phil lays on his left side and Dan lays on his right, and Phil wraps his arms slowly around Dan and pulls him in. Dan is significantly taller than Phil, but he curls up a little and twines his legs with Phil’s, and now Dan can tuck his head under Phil’s chin. Phil isn’t particularly warm, but he’s soft and comforting and the shirt Dan’s nose is buried in smells like kiwi shampoo and fabric softener and Phil. Phil reaches up very slowly, carding his fingers through Dan’s hair, and when his hair is completely tangle-free he starts gently scratching up and down Dan’s back.

     Eventually, Dan squirms up to meet Phil’s eyes, and calmly says, “I’m ready.”

     Phil carefully sits up, bringing Dan with him, until Phil is sitting up with Dan basically straddling his lap. Phil chuckles quietly, “Sorry, this is the best way to get at your neck.”

     Dan nods in response, then slowly tips his head back and to the side, and Phil’s pupils blow out until his blue iris’ are tiny rings around black holes. Phil’s fangs are poking out from under his top lip, and Dan’s heart is beating very fast. It only beats faster when Phil leans in and buries his nose in Dan’s neck. Phil leans back, looking slightly drunk, and whispers, “Sorry, you just smell really good. I’ve sort of wanted to do that since I met you.”

     “That’s okay,” Dan whispers back, and Phil is leaning in slowly and he moves his right hand to Dan’s back, and uses his left hand to tilt Dan’s head back slightly more, and Dan is shaking, and his heart is beating very, very fast, and then Phil’s teeth sink into his neck. And it hurts. It really, really hurts, but only for a moment, and then all Dan can feel is Phil’s mouth on his neck. Then Phil drinks, and Dan can feel the pull of blood to his neck and a sort-of swimminess to his thoughts. He feels distant and floaty, and he grabs onto Phil, wraps his legs around his waist and runs his hands up Phil’s shirt at the back so he can _feel_ Phil grow a little warmer with every drink, because _fuck_ does he need the contact. Phil is rubbing gentle circles into Dan’s hip and burying his hand in Dan’s hair, and Dan is blissful.

     He falls back and Phil follows him, and Phil’s weight keeps him grounded. Phil is heavy and safe and warm, and his weight ensures Dan notices when he starts feeling a little too distant. All he does is tug at Phil’s shirt a few times and Phil immediately stops, carefully licking the wound to stop the bleeding and trying to clean a little bit of the blood off his face. Dan is still wrapped like a koala around Phil, so Phil rolls over on his side to avoid crushing Dan’s arms, and then he rests their foreheads together. Dan is not very present or aware, but he enjoys the continued contact, and mumbles out, “Feels nice. You’re very warm. Stay here.”

     To which an amused Phil says, “Of course I will. Don’t worry, you can sleep. You’ll be safe.” So, wrapped around Phil, Dan closes his eyes and promptly falls asleep.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     When Dan wakes up, he can’t see anything, and he remembers Phil and what happened, but the lights were on the last time he was awake, and isn’t blindness a result of-

     “Hey. What’s wrong?”

     Dan quietly says, “I can’t see.”

     Phil laughs at that, and Dan feels a feather-light kiss on his forehead before Phil says,

     “Well yeah, I can barely see. I turned the lights off. Except I didn’t want to get up, so I just threw stuff from my bedside table at the switch until it flipped. Be careful if you get up, I think I may have accidentally thrown a glass.”

     Dan smiles, then asks, “So, is this going to be, like, a thing? How often can you feed from me, ‘cause it would be awesome if you didn’t have to drink bagged blood.”

     “If you want it to be a thing, then yes, I would love that. Frequency of feeding depends on a lot, but I would say as long as you get plenty of calories and iron, probably once every three days? I would drink a lot less if I fed on a regular schedule.”

     Dan’s mouth tilts up at the thought of doing this every couple of days. He nuzzles into Phil’s chest, and quietly says, “Thank you, Phil.”

     Phil presses his lips to Dan’s hair and murmurs, “You’re welcome, Dan,” before they fall asleep to the sound of each other’s heartbeat.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Dan wakes up to sunlight streaming through a window, and Phil practically curled up on his chest like a very heavy cat. He tries to extricate himself from under Phil, but after two futile minutes with very little oxygen, Dan resorts to dumping Phil onto the bed. Phil jerks awake, snarls at the sun with his fangs ever so slightly visible, and pulls the covers over his head. Dan jumps back on the bed and starts poking Phil in his blanket-padded side.

     “Get up. *poke* Come on, I’m huunnnngryyyy.”*poke*

     “No, I’ll burn up *poke* in the sun.”

     “No you won’t. *poke* I’m not that gullible.*poke* Get up and make me pancakes.”

     “I am a creature of the night, and it is way too early to be getting up.”

     “Phiiiiillllllll.”

     Phil huffs, pushes the covers off his face, and sits up blearily. “There’s pancake mix in the cupboard with Legend of Zelda stickers on it, and eggs in the fridge.”

     “The rare Philosaurus emerges from his slumber! It’s a miracle! Only six more weeks of blistering heat!”

     Phil smiles at Dan, and crawls over to the edge of the bed, where he gracelessly extricates himself from the sheets and blankets to stand up and walk over to the door. “C’mon, it’s pancake time.”

     Dan does a mini victory dance that appears to be a cross of disco and karate, then runs out of the door Phil has just opened. Phil smiles, shakes his head, and plods out into the kitchen after Dan.

 

     Dan is not actually that bad of a cook, and the pancake batter is whipped up in no time. Phil is on actual cooking duty, and it’s all going really well until Phil goes to flip the pancakes.

     “Umm, Dan…”

     Dan looks up and narrows his eyes.

     “Yessss…”

     “I may have forgotten to spread butter on the pan.”

     Dan succeeds in glaring at Phil for .2 seconds before he collapses into laughter.

     “How-d’you-forget-to lubricate-the pan?

     Phil turns to look indignantly at Dan.

     “I haven’t cooked in a year! It’s hardly fair to expect me to remember-”

     “Phil, the pancakes are smoking!”

     “Fuck!”

     Phil grabs the pan, runs it over to the sink, and dunks it under a stream of cold water. Dan wrinkles his nose. “Oooh, burnt pastry, my favorite candle scent!”

     “Shut up.” Phil turns to grin at Dan, and turns off the water.

     “Okay, hopefully batch two comes out a little less done.”

 

     Fifteen minutes later, Dan and Phil are sitting down on the terrace surrounded by plants, and Dan is stuffing his face with pancakes.

     “Mmhph… these are so good!” Dan looks around a little. “Okay, I have to ask, what’s with the plants?” Phil sits back in his chair and shrugs.

     “I dunno, I just really like plants. This place doesn’t allow pets, so these are the closest I can get.”

     Dan sets down his mostly-empty plate.

     “My place doesn’t allow pets either.”

     Phil leans forward, and says, “Where do you live? And do you go to school? Do you have a job? What-”

     “Woah there, okay, why don’t we trade questions and answers, since I also have some questions for you.”

     Phil pouts. “But you already got my tragic backstory!”

     Dan sighs, “Okay, fine, you get two questions to start. Fire away.”

     Phil sits back, raises his hand to his face, and begins to stroke an imaginary goatee as he thinks over his questions. Finally he sits forward.

     “Okay, first question: Where do you live?”

     “Creeper alert!” Dan laughs. “I live a couple blocks in the opposite direction we went from the club. It’s a tiny flat, and I’m pretty sure my building’s neighbors are cooking meth in their basement, but it’s pretty decent all things considered.”

     Phil nods. “Okay, second question: How did you end up at a vampire bar yesterday?” Dan rolls his eyes.

     “Man, you just wasted a question. The story honestly isn’t that great, although it’ll get a little more interesting once I track down PJ and murder him. He’s the one who recommended that place to me, without mentioning that it was a vamp bar. My internet broke last night, so I figured it was the universe telling me to get off my lazy ass and try to be social.”

     Phil nods sympathetically, and Dan grins.

     “Okay, my turn.”

     He has no idea what to ask; Phil was right, he had already gained a lot of background. And suddenly, an idea sparks in his head, and it’s sort of cheesy, but Dan’s pretty sure Phil appreciates cheesy.

     “Okay, I figured out my question.”

     Phil looks attentively towards Dan, and Dan smiles shyly.

     “Would you like to go on a date with me?” Dan asks, and immediately looks down at his lap, blushing furiously as he waits for Phil to answer. Which is why he doesn’t see Phil walk over, until Phil tilts his chin up and suddenly they’re kissing, and Phil’s lips are soft and still a little warm from Dan’s blood. After a few seconds of pressing their lips together, Phil pulls back and looks at Dan.

     “Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Dan and Phil are late to their fourth date, which was supposed to be the 1:10 of Frankenstein, but is instead the 1:40 of Nosferatu, which since it’s currently about 1:38, Dan is pretty sure they’ll miss this one too.

     “C’mon Dan, we’re going to be late,” Phil says as he tugs at Dan’s sleeve.

     “If you hadn’t insisted on stopping and petting that dog-”

     “Dan! A St. Bernard clearly trumps anything, even Nosferatu. Besides, we’ve seen it twice, and who knows when we’ll meet Chester again?”

     Dan smiles at that,but pulls up short as they come in sight of the theater. There are about a dozen people milling around the building holding signs that say things like ‘Vampire’s are Satan’s Minions!’, and the less amusing and more terrifying ‘Death to Vampires’. Dan grimaces.

     “Don’t those assholes have something better to do than trying to intimidate pedestrians?”

     Phil frowns.

     “It’s okay, we can go someplace else, the movie is running all day, they’ll be gone later.”

     Dan glares at Phil.

     “You don’t have to go someplace else or wait to see the movie to make _them_ more comfortable. C’mon.”

     Dan reaches down and firmly locks their fingers together and starts walking towards the cinema. He’s worried about Phil, but as they get closer and closer, no one seems to have noticed them, and he’s starting to calm down and think they’ll be able to slip inside unnoticed, when a big man with a sign turns and sees them. At first he just sneers at their entwined hands, but then he does a double take at Phil, and Dan’s stomach drops.

     “Hey, go back to the grave, mosquito! Fucking monster! Your kind should be exterminated!”

     Phil flinches, and Dan grips his hand tighter and looks at the irate middle-aged man.

     “The only ‘monsters’ here are you and your discriminatory herd of mindless hate mongers.”

     A few more protesters have wandered over by now, and Dan is starting to worry about Phil, when the angry man lunges forward into Dan’s personal space and starts to reach toward him. Dan’s vision tunnels to the man’s hands, his breathing kicks up a few notches, and then he hears a violent growl originate from his right side. Phil’s fangs are out, and he steps sideways in front of Dan, shoving the man back hard enough to knock him on his ass. Phil is breathing hard and his pupils are huge as he makes eye contact with various shocked bystanders. His voice trembles with rage as he turns back to the man.

     “If you or any of your friends try to touch Dan again, I will rip out your throat and turn you into one of the things you despise so fucking much. Now, back up.”

     The protesters skitter backwards as Phil turns to Dan.

     “I’m not really interested in a movie anymore. Can we just go back to the flat?”

     Dan swallows, and replies, “Yeah, come on Phil, let’s get you home.”

     They turn and walk all the way back to the apartment without saying a word. Dan smooths his thumb over Phil’s knuckles over and over to try to calm him down, but if anything he thinks Phil looks more upset as they walk into the building and take the elevator up to the third floor. As soon as they’re both inside the flat with the door locked, Phil collapses against the front door and puts his head in his hands. Dan slides down to sit next to Phil, who cringes away when Dan tries to put his arm around Phil’s shoulders.

     Dan murmurs,“Hey, what’s wrong? If it’s what that guy said-”

     Phil looks up in what Dan is surprised to register is anger, and says, “No, I could care less what that man said, I care what I _did_. I assaulted that man, and I threatened to kill him. I threatened to kill all of them.”

     “Because he assaulted me! Besides, you wouldn’t have actually-”

     “Really, I wouldn’t have killed anyone? Look-”

     And Phil carefully opens his mouth to reveal raw-looking bite marks littering the inside of his lips.

     “Phil, why did you…?”

     “I was just- I was so angry, and they- I wanted to hurt them. And I was so, so close to actually doing it. The pain distracted me, it was the only reason I didn’t go for their throats.”

     Dan’s eyes widen, and after a moment of thought, he throws himself sideways at Phil.

     “What-no-what are you-”

     Dan hangs on for a minute or so, then releases Phil and scoots back to his side of the door again. Phil is livid.

     “What part of ‘I was just contemplating murder’ didn’t get through to you? You should be running away from me, not-”

     “Phil, you were willing to hurt yourself to keep from hurting people who hate you and attacked me. I’m not worried about your ability to keep _me_ safe. If anything, I’m reassured that you have control over yourself.

     Phil smiles shakily, then sighs.

     “Ugh, I’m pretty sure this encounter will just become more anti-vamp propaganda. Because we needed more bad publicity.”

     Dan frowns, then stands up and reaches out a hand to Phil. “Shall we adjourn to play Mario Kart, good sir?”

     Phil pulls himself up and nods.

     “But if you choose Rainbow Road again, I’ll kill _you_.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Ten rounds of Mario Kart, and seventeen Just Dance songs later, Dan is microwaving a pizza while Phil plays on his phone and complains about Flappy Bird. Dan is just grabbing a coke from their fridge when he hears a quiet whimper from behind him. Dan whips around to see Phil curled up tightly, holding his head with his face contorted in pain.

     “Phil! Phil! What’s wrong? What hurts? Is it your head? Talk to me!”

     Phil lifts his head slightly and looks at Dan.

     “It’s just a bad headache.”

     Dan is confused and worried, because Phil drank from him three days ago, and he’s been headache free since Dan showed up two weeks before.

     “Why would you have a headache?”

     Phil shrugs, and says quietly, “I think it’s maybe because of my lips, earlier? I know mouth wounds in humans take a while to stop bleeding.”

     “Phil! You have anti-coagulant _coating the teeth_ you used to bite your lips.

     “Oh, yeah.”

     Dan raises his hands in frustration, but keeps his voice down.

     “Why didn’t you mention that you had a headache? It must have started before now.”

     “I didn’t want to bother you.”

     Dan rolls his eyes, and grabs Phil’s hand.

     “Come on, let’s get you fixed up.”

     He helps Phil into the bedroom, and he’s a little scared at how much of Phil’s weight he has to support, but Dan manages to get them both on the bed. He leans down and kisses Phil, then tugs his shirt to the side, and nods at him. Phil instantly lunges forward, pinning Dan down and digging his teeth into Dan’s neck, and Dan’s not scared of Phil, he’s scared for Phil, because he’s never seen Phil this desperate. The first few pulls are almost dizzying enough to make Dan pass out, but then some of Phil’s urgency passes, and the draughts become manageable again. Phil has his left hand buried in Dan’s hair, because he knows how to keep Dan anchored, knows how disorientating this is, and Dan is wrapped around Phil, hands on his lower back because skin-on-skin contact is the best way to stay focused. After a few more shallow drinks, Phil stops sucking and just waits, swallowing the slow trickle of blood that naturally flows from the bites because if he waits like this everything lasts longer.

     Eventually, Dan’s tranquil floating starts feeling more like falling, and he reaches his hand up and tugs gently on Phil’s hair. Phil lets go, and licks the bites until they close over, then kisses gently all over his neck, and says,

     “Thank you so much. Are you okay?”

     Dan nods dreamily, and Phil rolls them over onto their sides so Dan isn’t being squished.

     “I’m sorry I just sort of attacked your neck.”

     “‘S okay. You were hungry.”

     Phil smiles at that, and kisses Dan again, this time on the lips. Then he nudges Dan.

     “Hey, do you want to go eat your pizza?”

     Dan yawns.

     “Lemme come down from my amazing vampire high first.”

     “M’kay.”

     Phil wraps his arms around Dan’s waist and touches his forehead to Dan’s, and they lay still for a while until Dan’s hunger outweighs his gigantic love for cuddling.

     “Okay, I am officially conscious enough that the pizza sounds more attractive than cuddling, even with you.”

     Phil giggles, nudges Dan’s nose with his own, and pulls Dan into a sitting position with him. Dan’s head spins for a minute, but other than that he’s fine, and he’s just relieved that Phil’s okay. As Phil pulls him up, he clumsily leans forward and kisses him hard.

     Phil laughs, and asks, “What was that for?”

     Dan smiles.

     “For being okay.”

     They grab each others’ hands, and walk out into the apartment proper to continue with their evening.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Dan had basically moved in within the first three days or so of meeting Phil, because as it turns out, without the sex it’s a lot less serious of a decision. Plus, Dan’s internet took a week and a half to get fixed, and he was not waiting that long. Now, about a month after meeting Phil, he has moved all of his stuff into Phil’s flat, and Dan is just waiting for his rental to expire so he can turn in his keys. He’s more than a little concerned at how quickly everything is moving, but being with Phil is just so amazing. Dan is standing at the kitchen counter absentmindedly making a bowl of cereal when a pair of arms snake around his chest, and Phil rests his chin on Dan’s shoulder.

     “Have you decided what we’re doing tonight? I got to decide on the zoo last time, so it’s your turn.”

     Dan squirms around so he’s facing Phil.

     “I was thinking maybe we could go back to where we met? It’s nostalgic, and their smoothies really were good.”

     Phil smiles and leans in for a kiss, which Dan happily accepts, and then Phil leans back and nods.

     “That sounds wonderful.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     “Where did you even buy a leather t-shirt, Dan?”

     Dan laughs.

     “Online. It was supposed to be a gag gift, but I found something better.”

     “Better than a leather t-shirt?”

     Dan grins.

     “I found these creepy banks that- well, nevermind. Did you find a presentable outfit for me?”

     Phil smiles widely, and flourishes an ensemble that is both great-looking, and _way too effing colorful_ for Dan.

     “I can’t be seen in public wearing that! My credibility as an emo scene kid will vanish!”

     Phil grins nastily.

     “Dan, I am a literal vampire, and I wear more colors than you. You’re wearing this, or you’re wearing the worst christmas sweater I own. Not, like, an ironically bad christmas sweater - a straight up hideous one.”

     Dan sighs, “Okay, okay, fine! You win!”

     After struggling with purple skinny jeans he didn’t even know he owned for several minutes, Dan has to admit that he looks pretty good. Phil is wearing skinny jeans and a blue button down, and he’s looking even hotter than usual.

     They race each other down the stairs, and walk out into the night air, which for once is actually fairly cool. Dan grabs Phil’s hand and doesn’t drop it the entire way to the club. Once they arrive, all it takes is one flash of Phil’s fangs at the bouncer and they’re in.

     As they maneuver around the dance floor to the bar, Dan whines, “Why do you get in for free? Last time I had to pay!”

     Phil turns to look in amusement at Dan.

     “Dude, this place is free to get in. Someone must’ve just set up out front and started conning idiots into paying.”

     Dan looks at Phil in stupefaction, which quickly morphs into annoyance.

     “Hey, you’re talking to one of the idiots he conned!”

     “Yup.”

     Dan shakes his head in mock disgust and is turning to catch the bartender’s attention when a short redhead steps directly in front of him, twirling her hair.

     “Excuse me, I’m new in town. Could you give me directions to your apartment?”

     Dan splutters in shock and turns to get Phil to bail him out, but Phil just smiles mischieviously and turns to order Dan a smoothie. In the meantime, the woman has edged even closer to Dan, and he turns five shades of mauve before stuttering out, “I don’t- um, I mean-I don’t like girls!”

     The ginger’s eyes narrow and she scowls before turning and walking away. Phil grabs Dan’s drink and turns around to see Dan glowering at him.

     “Why didn’t you help me out? The last time someone got that close to me, you threatened to go all ‘Lost Boys’ on them, now you’re letting strangers hit on me?”

     Phil hands Dan his smoothie and snickers.

     “Seeing you ineffectually trying to push off the advances of women without offending them may be my new favorite hobby. I win when you make someone cry, which based on your first attempt at rejection, will probably happen within the hour.”

     Dan sighs and is about to retort when a tall asian man with extremely short hair walks up to Phil and says,“If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?”

     Phil takes one very large step back and looks to his right to see Dan walking away from him to the tables at the end of the room. Phil turns back in horror to mumble, “Umm, I have to, um, use the bathroom? Bye!”

     He then all but runs over to Dan and sits down.

     “Why did you leave?”

     Dan’s eyes glint, and he says in a passable impersonation of Phil,

     “Watching you reject women is rapidly becoming one of my favorite past-times.”

     Phil shoves him and sits down across from Dan.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Thirteen minutes and five horrible pick up lines later, and Phil has resorted to sitting in Dan’s lap to deter people.

     Dan grumbles, “Why are so many people interested in us?”

     “I’m a vampire, and you’re hot. It’s not a difficult equation.”

     Dan sighs, and then aggressively kisses Phil to stop the lady wearing a frankly frightening amount of mascara who is staring at him from coming over.

     “Ugh. This is turning out to be significantly less fun than I anticipated.”

     Phil smiles crookedly.

     “Well, it hasn’t been all bad. I mean, when else do I get to sit on your lap?”

     “Never, ‘cause you’re fucking heavy, and I still very much need to breathe. Seriously, your catlike tendency to curl up on my chest while I’m asleep has nearly resulted in my death by suffocation several times.”

     Dan is sort of confused about why he even bothered finishing his sentence, because halfway through his spiel Phil has to attack his neck to save them from the presence of a tall androgynous brunette.

     “Jesus Phil, you nearly drew blood! Maybe try and be a touch less enthusiastic?”

     Phil lowers his eyebrows.

     “They were a vampire. I wanted to discourage them and anyone else from trying to take a nibble.”

     The corner of Dan’s mouth raises.

     “You were being protective?”

     Phil nods, and then starts standing up.

     “Okay, this has been lovely, but honestly a walk seems like it’ll allow for a little more conversation and fewer creepy stares.”

     Dan stands up too, and they awkwardly dance across the room to escape from the booming bass and heat into the cool August night.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     “You had a self-aware hamster!? No way, you have got to be making that up.”

     Dan shakes his head, and puts his hand on his heart.

     “Scout’s honor.”

     They’ve been walking around the city for several hours, and honestly Dan knows it’s way past a respectable hour and he’ll regret this when he has to wake up at six tomorrow to go restock shelves for eight hours, but Phil is just so much fun to talk with. They’ve been talking and holding hands and kissing and making up silly competitions-who can reach the lamp first (Phil), who can recite the most thirteen syllable words(Dan), who can remember twenty elements from the periodic table (neither of them)-and Dan is having the time of his life.

     “So, what’s your favorite animal?”

     “Lion. What’s yours?”

     Dan is thinking that he has to start calling Phil Lion, and that it somehow suits him, and that he needs to start looking for their street, and he’s just about to reply ‘Bear’, when Phil’s eyes widen in horror and he feels something cold press to his temple. Dan’s never been this scared this fast in his entire life, and Phil’s telling the man to take whatever he wants, anything, just, “Please don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him, I’ll give you anything.” Another man appears in Dan’s peripheral vision and tells Phil to stay still, and Dan tries to tell Phil not to, because he _can’t_ , he knows what the man is going to do and he can’t just _stand there_ , but Phil listens and then the man walks forward and Dan tries to yell at Phil to _move, do something_, and then there’s a horrible squelching sound and a stake sticking out of Phil’s chest, and Dan starts crying, because this can’t be happening, things like this don’t happen to good people, and Phil’s _good_ , he’s so much better than Dan. The man holding Dan lets go of him, and Dan just sort of slumps to the ground as they run off. He wishes dully that they had just shot him, because anything would have to be better than this,

 

and then Phil makes a tiny noise.

 

     Dan is by his side in a heartbeat, pulling Phil’s head into his lap and trying to put pressure around the stake and whispering to Phil, “Stay here staywithme Iloveyoupleasedon’tleave” over and over, and Phil finally opens his eyes but they’re hazy and unfocused and Dan has never had first aid, and even he knows he isn’t supposed to remove things that are stuck in people. But Dan also knows that what he’s about to do won’t work if the stake is still in Phil, so he kisses Phil once on the cheek, because he’s coughing up blood (the sight of blood on Phil’s lips alone nearly makes him vomit), and tugs the stake out. Phil screams once, high and loud, and once the stake is out Dan turns to the side and does vomit. He wipes his mouth on his shirt, and turns back to Phil, who appears to be hanging onto consciousness by a thread.

     “Okay, Phil, this is going to make you better. Just-” and Dan doesn’t know what to say, what magical words will reach Phil when he’s in so much pain, so he just finishes, quietly, “-try to stop.”

     He leans down, kisses Phil’s forehead, and then drags the stake over the side of his throat. It hurts like hell, but he only gives himself a moment to feel the pain before leaning down and pressing Phil’s mouth to his neck. Phil latches on hard, and and Dan whimpers from the bite right before Phil starts gulping blood, and Dan is falling, everything goes shaky and blurry and it’s toomuchtoofast and he just manages to get out a cracked, “I love you Phil” before everything drops away.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Everything hurts, the light and breathing and sound. Dan is drifting in and out, and the only thing he cares about is if it worked, if Phil is okay. Eventually, his head stops spinning, and he opens his eyes. Phil is over to him instantly, and Dan would be relieved if he weren’t so damn tired.

     “Dan! Can you hear me? Say something!”

     “I---l-l-ove-”

     And Phil’s eyes glisten as he leans down to hug Dan tightly.

     “I love you too. I love you so much.”

     Phil looks over at the IV drip still set up next to Dan and sits down heavily in a chair by the bed.

     “You were unconscious for three days, Dan. I wasn’t sure if you were even going to wake up. I went and bought some O- and other medical stuff, but there was only so much I could do here. I’m so sorry, I knew the hospital could help more, but if you got worse they would have stopped me from turning you. I just-,” and Phil’s voice breaks as he drops his head in his hands.

     “‘S okay.”

     Phil looks up with tears streaming down his face to look angrily at Dan.

     “Of course it’s not okay! I could have killed you- I nearly did! What were you thinking?”

     Phil shakes his head when Dan starts to tremble out an answer.

     “Don’t answer that. We shouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Let’s get you better first.”

     Phil grabs a glass of water from the table and sits down on the bed while holding it up to Dan’s lips.

     “You need to drink. I’ve been giving fluids intravenously, but you’re still pretty dehydrated.”

     Dan drinks, spilling half of the water on himself in the process. Phil turns, sets the now-empty glass on the table, and swivels back around to Dan.

     “You should go to sleep. I know it feels like that’s all you’ve done for the past three days, but blood-loss-coma is different than proper sleep. Don’t worry, now that you’ve woken up, you’re probably going to be okay.”

     Phil clambers up on the bed and lays down next to Dan. He reaches his arm around Dan’s waist, careful to avoid the IV line, and drops his head in the crook of Dan’s neck.

     Phil whispers, “Go to sleep, Dan,” into his skin, and Dan drops off almost immediately.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     When Dan wakes up again, his headache is mostly gone, and his muscles actually seem to want to respond to his commands. He can hear pots and pans banging in the kitchen, so he hoarsely yells out, “Phil,” and Phil comes running in a few seconds later.

     “You’re awake! Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

     Dan shakes his head experimentally.

     “No, I feel okay, still a little sore and tired, but fine otherwise. I’m really hungry, though.”

     Phil nods, and runs back into the kitchen. He returns with a bowl of something and a glass of milk.

     “I was hoping that you would be up soon, and I wanted a distraction, so I made pumpkin soup from scratch.”

     Dan pushes himself up against the headboard until he’s mostly upright, and takes the bowl while Phil sets down the glass. He sniffs the soup, and then takes a tiny spoonful.

     Phil sits forward eagerly.

     “How does it taste?”

     Dan raises an eyebrow and says, “Are you sure you’re the one who made this? Because this is actually good.”

     Phil huffs indignantly.

     “Of course I made it! It’s my old Ma Lester’s  recipe! Been in the family for three hundred years!”

     “Really?”

     “No you idiot, I got it from the internet.”

     Dan scowls, and goes back to eating his soup. Once it’s all gone and he’s drank the milk, Phil brings the dishes out to the kitchen and returns to sit next to the bed, looking grim.

     “We need to talk about what happened.”

     Dan glares at him.

     “Yes, but not about what I did. You just stood there and let that man try to kill you! And if he’d had better aim, he would have succeeded! How could you do that?”

     Phil shoots back, “I had to let him stake me, or his friend was going to kill you! But you didn’t have to nearly kill yourself saving me! Do you know how scared I was? To wake up and find myself covered in your blood, with you unconscious? You barely had a pulse! How could you-”

     “I had to save you! I thought you were dead for a minute, and it was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my entire life. I would rather die saving you than live to mourn you!”

     Phil is crying now, and he tries to speak.

     “You wouldn’t-”

     “Phil! Why won’t you listen to-”

     “I CAN’T LOSE YOU! You thought I was dead for a minute, I thought you were going to die for three days! And I was the one who killed you! It was my fault!”

     Dan is crying now too, as he says, “It wasn’t your fault, it was mine! I was the only reason you didn’t defend yourself!”

     “No, you wouldn’t have even been in danger if I hadn’t been there! I painted a giant target on your back! I nearly drained you! It was MY FAULT!”

     Dan’s sobbing now, and he chokes out, “Phil,” before they’re clinging to each other desperately, kissing each other everywhere they can reach and saying over and over, “It isn’t your fault, it’s okay, everything’sokay, IloveyouI’msorryIdon’tblameyou.”

     There’s tears and kisses and love, and by the end they’re wrapped around each other, and the guilt and fear aren’t gone, but they aren’t hard to ignore either.

 

Eventually Dan whispers to Phil,

“If I’m dying, turn me, because I’m not leaving you,”

and Phil whispers,

“Okay,”

and they stay curled up together for a long, long time.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     “What are we watching? And don’t say Despicable Me, you’ve already made me watch that three times this week, and I’m starting to be able to say the words with the characters.”

     Phil grins, and says, “You’ll see,” which is probably the least reassuring thing it is possible to say.

     Dan frowns and walks over to sit on their couch, where he resists Phil’s attempts to wrap him in a burrito of comforters, after which Phil starts fiddling with the DVD player. It’s been several weeks since Phil was attacked, and ever since then Phil has been annoyingly overprotective. Dan stamps down the tiny voice in his head that wants to call Phil’s worrying ‘adorable’. He was feeling completely better three days after the accident, but Phil is still pumping him full of chicken soup and Gatorade. He also hasn’t fed on Dan since then, instead going to blood banks once every three days. Phil insists he just wants Dan to be completely better, that ‘It takes a long time to produce so much blood’, but Dan isn’t so sure. Regardless, he’s not going to press the issue.

     During his reverie, Phil manages to get the DVD player working, and Dan is a little suspicious when Phil turns off the lights. As Phil plops down onto the couch, his suspicion turns into full-blown panic as the title of the film flashes onscreen.

     “PHIL! We are not watching The Mothman Prophecies! That somehow manages to combine my fear of forests, darkness, moths, and the supernatural all in one!”

     “You said I should pick something scary!”

     “I said scary, not mentally scarring!”

     Phil hits play, and when Dan lunges for the remote he tosses it away into the pitch black hallway leading to their bedroom.  He sticks out his tongue at Dan.

     “You can watch the scary movie, or leave the safety of the couch to retrieve the remote blind from that hallway. Your choice.”

     Dan knows this isn’t a hard choice, so he resigns himself to being absolutely terrified for the next couple of hours.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Ten minutes later, and Dan is clinging to Phil in abject horror while trying desperately to stop imagining that he feels a presence behind them. Phil is trying to act like he isn’t scared, but he’s pretty sure with how hard he’s holding on to Dan it’s pretty obvious.

 

     Twenty minutes later, and Dan and Phil are hiding under the blankets and quietly talking and singing back and forth to cover up the noises from the TV.

     “This was a really bad idea.”

     “Gee, y’think Phil?”

     “I keep imagining it’s-”

     “Okay, stop talking.”

     Phil wracks his brain for something to sing, because Dan is looking like he might start crying, and smiles when he remembers one.

     “Honey is for bees, silly Bear,” Phil sings as he boops Dan on the nose, “Besides there’s jelly beans ev-ery-where. It’s not what it seems, in the land of dreams; don’t worry your head just go to sleep.”

     Phil keeps singing, sings the whole song twice through, and when he’s done Dan is snuggled up to him in the warmth under the blankets, and everything seems a little less scary. And then the TV makes a creepy noise, and Phil turns to Dan and says, “I’m going for the remote,” at which point he jumps off the couch and blurs over to the hallway, where he emerges a second later holding the remote and desperately hitting the stop button as he runs back to the couch. The movie stops and the TV switches back to BBC, and both breathe a collective sigh as Phil runs over and turns the lights on.

     “Okay, we are never watching a scary movie again, ever. Who wants to go and cuddle in my room with the lights on?”

     Dan raises his hand, and Phil swoops over and picks him up bridal style off the couch.

     “Phil! I can walk!”

     Phil smiles and carries Dan into the bedroom, ignoring Dan’s struggles, and then drops him unceremoniously on the bed. Phil flops down next to Dan, and Dan rolls over on top of him and curls up on his torso.

     “Can’t...breathe…”

     Dan rolls off and presses into Phil’s side.

     “Maybe that’ll teach you to roll over onto my chest in your sleep!”

     “If it’s in my sleep, why is it my fault?”

 

     Five minutes of bickering with steadily less clever insults sees Dan curled up on Phil’s right side, fast asleep. Phil pulls the duvet up over both of them, and presses a kiss to the corner of Dan’s mouth before closing his eyes and quietly humming ‘Honey is for bees silly bear’ over and over until he drifts off.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     It’s been a week since the Mothman debacle, and Phil is _still_ going to the blood bank instead of Dan. He’s all for giving time to get over stuff, but Phil’s been grouchy and irritable, and Dan is tired of waiting. So one night, after he gets off his late shift (he did manage to get re-hired after missing work for five days without even calling, after explaining what happened, but his manager stuck him with the evening shift as payback) Dan walks into the living room where Phil is viciously tearing some anti-vampire propaganda they got in the mail into little bits, and announces, “We’re going to go get in bed and you’re going to drink my blood and stop being so grumpy. I’m tired of having petty arguments and I know you’re tired of headaches and disgusting blood. C’mon.”

     With this, Dan grabs Phil’s arm and starts attempting to drag him to the bedroom, but Phil doesn’t budge, and after several seconds of futile tugging, Dan sits down next to Phil.

     “Okay, what’s wrong?”

     “Nothing, I just don’t think you’re recovered enough-”

     “That’s bullshit. I was better three weeks ago. I ask again, what’s wrong?

     Phil looks down at his shoes and mutters something Dan doesn’t quite catch.

     “What? Phil, speak up.”

     “I’m worried that I’ll hurt you.”

     Dan laughs, and then sobers up when he realizes Phil isn’t joking. He puts a hand on Phil’s arm.

     “Phil, of course you aren’t going to hurt me. You’ve always stopped as soon as I ask you to.”

     Phil shakes his head.

     “Not always.”

     Dan sighs.

     “Is that what this is about? Phil, you were dying and unconscious.”

     “And I didn’t stop.”

     “Well, duh! But you’re not starving or dying or otherwise incapacitated. I know how hard it was to wake up and see me like that, but I’ll be fine.”

     “But what if I don’t stop this time?”

     “Phil, I trust you. You aren’t going to hurt me.”

     Phil lets out a breath, and leans his forehead against Dan’s.

     “I trust your judgement.”

     Dan smiles and pecks Phil on the lips.

     “C’mon Lion.”

     Dan pulls Phil into the bedroom and jumps onto the bed, where he spreads out like a starfish.

     “All you can eat buffet, right here, ladies and gentlemen!”

     Phil snorts and falls down next to Dan.

     “Are you sure about this?”

     “Oh my _gosh_ , yes, Phil, I’m sure.”

     Phil rolls over on top of Dan and nuzzles into his neck.

     “Your blood smells sooo much better than the stuff I get at the blood bank.”

     Dan rolls his eyes.

     “Telling people they smell edible isn’t usually the best way to charm them.”

     Phil laughs and this time when he nuzzles Dan’s neck he feels fangs just barely pressing against his skin.

     “Hair, Phil?”

     “Oh yeah.”

     Phil buries his right hand in Dan’s hair, and then tips Dan’s head to the side with his left. After looking at Dan for the go-ahead (which always makes Dan’s stomach do a funny little flip when he sees the black all but filling Phil’s eyes), Phil leans down and bites Dan, and Dan is remembering that night when everything was too-fast and hurt, but Phil waits, and the pain subsides as Phil taps gentle patterns on his neck with his free hand. Phil waits until Dan’s breathing calms and he’s run his hands under Phil’s shirt before starting to drink. Dan’s head swims and his focus blurs, but it’s Phil, so he lets himself relax and float, wrapping their toes together and letting his attention wander, trusting Phil to stop when he needs to. Phil stops as soon as he’s not hungry, and closes up the wound. He doesn’t roll off Dan or disentangle his fingers from Dan’s hair like he usually does, and that’s nice because Dan is still floating. Phil’s weight and gentle tugs at his hair bring Dan back down, and eventually he’s aware enough to nuzzle his face into Phil’s shirt and press kisses onto Phil’s shoulder. This is one of the best times to cuddle with Phil, because he’s so _warm_.

     “Fuck Dan, did I take too much? You’re not normally this woozy.”

     “‘M okay. I just-”Dan stops to yawn, “I just haven’t done this in a while, and I zoned out more than usual. Thanks for stopping without me having to tell you.”

     “You’re welcome.”

     Phil emits a sound that is basically a purr as he squirms off and curls up next to Dan, and Dan can feel the rumbles deep in Phil’s chest.

     “Is the ‘ittle kitten tired?”

     “Fuck off.”

     Dan laughs and rolls over to fall asleep.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Dan first sees PJ about a week after the night he meets Phil, and he isn’t too sure about how to mention the sort-of relationship they have going on. Dan isn’t even sure he should mention it at all, because there’s still a lot of anti-vampire sentiment in the country, and they’ve never exactly had a heart to heart on the morality of vampires. He sets up a meeting at a bar with PJ, and leaves Phil’s apartment at eight p.m.

     When he arrives, he finds PJ waiting out in front and talking animatedly on his cellphone. PJ says his goodbyes and hangs up when he sees Dan, and they walk into the bar together.

     “So, how’ve you been?”

     Dan shrugs, and returns the question.

     “Not too bad, actually.” PJ smiles. “I have a minor role in a production of Rent someone’s putting on, and the pay isn’t horrible for once. How’s work for you?”

     Dan says, “Boring, but okay,” and turns to order from the bartender.

     “One martini for my friend, and a pomegranate smoothie for me.”

     Dan turns back to continue the conversation with Pj, who is looking at him very oddly.

     “Sorry, I thought you liked martinis? We can switch if you want, this place has really good smoo-”

     PJ cuts him off.

     “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing a vampire? And don’t say you aren’t, no one drinks those things if they don’t have to. You haven’t dated anyone in three years, and you don’t think this is worth bringing up?”

     Dan shuffles back and forth a little.

     “I, ahh, wasn’t sure how you felt about vampires. Also, we aren’t technically dating. I mean we’ve been _on_ dates, but I haven’t talked with him yet about the whole exclusivity thing.”

     PJ raises an eyebrow.

     “So tell me, what do you and this non-boyfriend vampire get up to? Because if he’s pressuring you into anything, I’ll kick his-”

     Dan holds up his hand to cut off PJ’s rant, and says, “No man, don’t worry about Phil, he’s totally cool with the no sex thing. That’s why I was interested in him in the first place. We just cuddle and kiss and stuff. Well, that and the whole blood drinking thing.”

     “Woah, you let him drink your blood? When? What was it like?”

     Dan rubs the back of his neck and is about to plunge into an explanation when their drinks come up. After walking to the back of the room and sliding into a booth, Dan takes a sip of his drink and starts talking.

     “So, I went to that club you recommended, and I was pissed because you lied to me, but I paid twenty bucks to get in-”

     “Dude, it’s free entry!”

     “Yes, I know that now, thank you. Anyway, I got a smoothie because they didn’t serve alcohol, and went to sit in the back of the room to do my creepy people-watching. Some vampire walked up and started hitting on me, and was getting a little scary when Phil stepped in. He cleared the guy out, and after chatting for a bit he mentioned that he wasn’t into sex. He got a headache from the donated blood he’d been drinking, and I figured I’d help him out and let him drink some of my blood. We went back to his place, and I’ve kinda been hanging out there ever since.”

     PJ’s eyes have widened to saucers by now, and Dan figures he might as well finish his summary.

     “Also, getting fed on is exactly as awesome and relaxing as everyone says it is. It’s kinda like being drunk, only lighter, and there’s no hangover.”

     PJ is attempting to reign in some of his shock, and failing miserably.

     “You-you-vampires-can’t believe-”

     Dan smiles and takes another sip from his drink.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     A long time later, both boys are shaking hands goodbye outside of the bar.

     “Best of luck to you and Phil. He sounds like a great guy. Just be careful.”

     Dan smiles.

     “You be careful too Peej. Thanks for sending me to that club, I never would’ve found Phil otherwise. ‘Night!”

     Dan walks home that night with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Since then, Dan and Phil have met up with PJ a handful of times, and he’s become fast friends with Phil. Dan didn’t know he even cared about his friend’s approval until he had it. Endless coffee and cuddles and kisses later, and suddenly it’s been five months with Phil and all Dan knows is this is the best relationship he’s ever been in. Which is not to say it was perfect.

     “Phil, for the last time, I’m _not_ getting a tattoo.”

     Phil widens his eyes and looks over at Dan from the other side of the table they’re solving a puzzle on.

     “Well, it wouldn’t be _just_ you. We would get matching ones.”

     “Needles, Phil.”

     Phil scoffs.

     “Dan, you let me bite you like twice a week.”

     Dan makes a face.

     “There is a huge difference between teeth and needles.”

     Phil eyes him with a pleading look a golden retriever would be proud of, and Dan sighs.

     “If you get me really, really drunk, I’ll get a tattoo.”

     Phil sets down his handful of edges and swoops over to kiss Dan.

     “Yippee! Okay, so I was thinking we could get-”

     “If you say each other’s names, I will stake you for being too sappy to live.”

     Phil glares at Dan, and pokes him in the shoulder.

     “Fine then, what ideas do you have?”

     “I was thinking we could maybe get a bear and lion, but swapped? So you get the bear, and I get the lion, like a matched set?”

     Phil stares at Dan in shock, and then starts nodding repeatedly.

     “For hating sappy things so much, you have a lot of sappy suggestions. That is an adorable idea, which we are going to go get. Right now.”

     Dan shakes his head frantically.

     “No, no, you said you’d get me drunk, and I was thinking this would all occur in the distant future.”

     Phil skips into the kitchen and walks out with a bottle of Rosé.

     “I still have like, five bottles of this from when I was human. Have fun.”

     Dan takes the bottle grudgingly, and makes a last-ditch effort to stop Phil.

     “This stuff will stick in my blood for _weeks_.”

     “And we’ll have adorable matching tattoos for _forever_ , so I can put up with two weeks of alcohol-y blood.”

     Dan sighs and uses the corkscrew Phil helpfully grabbed with the wine to pop it open, at which point he gulps down several mouthfuls, because this is going to be a _long_ night.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Dan wakes up the next morning with the worst headache he has ever had, and a lion tattooed on his left bicep.The curtains are drawn and the lights are off, and from the vague lump lying next to him in bed, Phil’s there too.

     “Agggghhhhhh.”

     Phil jerks awake and sits up to look at Dan, who is still making various uncomfortable noises.

     “Morning Da-”

     Dan claps his hand over Phil’s mouth and whispers, “not that loud, please”

     Phil whispers back, “oh right, i’m sorry. how’s your arm?

     Dan pokes it gently, and winces a little.

     “twinges a bit, but it’s not too bad. what happened? i remember agreeing to get the tattoos, and drinking, and a little bit of riding around in a car, and everything else is just sort of hazy”

     Phil grins.

     “oh man, you had like two bottles of that stuff, and then you insisted on leaving immediately to get the tattoos. i called up a friend who knew an artist who would be willing to work on you while you were wasted, and we drove out to her shop. for some reason right when we got inside was when it occurred to you that this would all end in getting a tattoo, and you started freaking out. the artist, melanie, drew up some preliminary sketches, and as soon as you saw them you did a 180 and decided that nope, tattoos are cool. we got you on the table while you were still enamoured with tattoos, and everything went really well, except for when you started trying to grab at the needle because you “wanted to draw too”. she finished, you looked at the lion and roared at it and then you curled up and fell asleep on the table. we had to carry you to the sofa before i could get my bear. luckily you slept most of the way home, although right near london, at about two in the morning, you woke up a little and started trying to open the car door because you ‘wanted to go buy some gum’, except we were hurtling down the street at ninety kilometers an hour, not parked in front of tesco. luckily i hit the locks before you got the door open. i carried you up here once we got home, and that’s about it.”

     Dan groans and throws his arm over his face.

     “i am never drinking again”

     Phil huffs out a an amused puff of air and pulls Dan against his chest.

     “i called your boss and got you excused for illness. you can just sleep off the hangover, we don’t have anywhere to be.”

     Dan manages an, “oh thank god,” before he drops off to sleep.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     The next time Dan wakes up, his head doesn’t feel like it was smashed into by a bus, and he’s really hungry. Like, _really_ hungry. Phil is awake and reading some Stephen King book, which he puts on the bedside table when he sees that Dan is awake.

     “Hey, how’s your head? Feeling better? It’s six p.m., you’ve been out for about ten hours.”

     Dan rolls over on top of Phil, still wrapped in blankets, and squirms around.

     “I’m hungryyyy.”

     “We could order takeout or pizza if you want?”

     “Do you remember what happened the _last_ time we ordered pizza?”

     “That wasn’t my fault! How was I supposed to know that I still had blood on my face? Or that I had left Godzilla running? I mean, it should’ve been pretty obvious that the screams weren’t actually-”

     “Yeah, suuure. So since the delivery people have blacklisted us, that pretty much leaves cooking. What do we have?”

     Phil shrugs.

     “Not much. I’ve been stocking the fridge a little more, but that’s mostly aimed at breakfast. I still have non-perishables like flour and sugar, so we could make a bread product, but-”

     Dan interrupts with an emphatic, “Chocolate cake!”

     Phil raises an eyebrow.

     “For dinner?”

     “C’mon, it’s already six, it’ll take about an hour to bake, and I don’t want to be eating at ten o’clock.”

     Phil sighs, and tilts until Dan falls off him onto the bed.

     “Okay, chocolate cake it is.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     “Soft!”

     “Chewy!”

     “Soft!”

     “You can’t even eat cake!”

     “It’s the principle of the thing!”

     Dan grumbles and turns to add one egg (and only one!) to the mix. The instructions Phil found online had said one or two eggs, depending on desired texture. They also said 150-200 grams of sugar, and that vanilla extract was optional, so Dan is anticipating a long battle over the merits of the many slight variations on the same recipe. He’s just finishing measuring out the vegetable oil when he feels a light rain of flour hit the side of his head.

     “That had better not be what I think it is.”

     Dan reaches up into his hair, and removes a flour-coated hand.

     “Oh, it’s on.”

     He grabs the huge container of cocoa powder and flings some at Phil, and turns to run when a cloud of flour engulfs him.

     “Phil-,” Dan stops to cough, “what did you do?”

     “I dropped the bag of flour, and it sort of exploded.”

     When the dust finally settles, both Dan and Phil completely covered in flour, as is most of the kitchen.

     “What did we learn, Phil?”

     “That the kitchen is not a good place to mess around.”

     Dan finishes adding the ingredients while Phil walks around with a dustpan to try and clean everything up. Once he and the kitchen are mostly cleaned up, Phil grabs a towel, damps it down, and starts trying to get some of the powder off Dan.

     “Hold still! You’re squirming!”

     “I’m ticklish! Be a little more careful with that towel, or I’m not going to have ears.”

     Phil finishes up by scrubbing the flour out of Dan’s hair, and then goes and drops the towel off in the laundry basket. By the time he gets back, Dan is finished mixing the batter, and Phil grabs a pan for the cake. He holds it out to Dan, who stares at it for a minute.

     “Did you grease that pan?”

     “Oh shit.”

 

     Five minutes later, and Dan is shutting the door on the oven while Phil sets a timer.

     “So, what program do you want to watch?”

     Phil grins.

     Twenty minutes into the Avengers, and the smell of cake is permeating their apartment. Dan is inhaling deeply to try to absorb the smell of the cake, and that’s when he notices Phil is breathing very shallowly and sometimes just outright holding his breath.

     “Phil, why are you not breathing?”

     Phil shakes his head and starts breathing normally, but five minutes later he’s doing it again. Dan pauses the movie.

     “Do you not like chocolate or something? We could’ve made something else.”

     Phil shrugs and smiles sadly.

     “No, I love chocolate. I just wish I could eat the cake too.”

     Dan nods in sympathy and takes Phil’s hand.

     “I’m sorry. Is there anything else you miss?”

     Phil thinks for a minute.

     “Being able to not see and hear and smell everything. Smiling at strangers, because now they think I’m threatening them. Being warm.”

     Dan nods at the first two, but at the last one he jumps up,  grabs his blanket burrito, and opens it wide.

     “C’mere.”

     Phil stands up and hugs Dan, who wraps the blankets around Phil, and they shuffle awkwardly over to the couch which they fall on.

     “This gives me heatstroke, so it should warm you right up.”

     Phil sighs contentedly and snuggles his face into Dan’s sweatshirt. Ten minutes later, and he is actually properly warm, without Dan’s blood, for the first time since he was turned. He’s just drifting off when a loud buzzing sound emanates from the kitchen.

     “The cake is done!”

     After escaping from the burrito by rolling onto the floor, Dan grabs an oven mitt and removes the amazing-smelling cake from the oven. Phil comes plodding in, still wrapped in the blankets, and sniffs appreciatively. Dan sets the pan on top of the stove to cool, and waltzes Phil back to the couch, where they snuggle for the next twenty minutes or so while the cake cools. Dan pauses the movie right after the Black Widow finishes interrogating Loki, and they wander over to the kitchen debating the merits of the various Avengers.

     “Thor could totally beat them all in a fight.”

     “But we see the Hulk punch him later-”

     “Mjolnir beats everything!”

     “Okay, what about Clint? He could just take them all out from half a mile away.”

     “Yeah, except Tony would detect the arrows, Hulk can’t be killed, I’m not sure how mortal Thor is, and with Cap’s super senses he would probably duck on principle. And Hawkeye would never try to kill Natasha.”

     Dan throws his hands up in frustration, grabs a knife, and starts cutting the cake.

     “Okay, can we just agree to disagree? You think Bruce would win in a fight, and I think Thor would, but let’s be honest- Natasha is the one who would win.”

     Phil nods.

     “Yep.

     Dan grabs a plate and puts a piece of cake on it, then takes a fork from the drawer and digs in.

     “Ohmygosh thims mis gool.”

     Phil groans, “Did no one teach you manners? Chew with your mouth closed! I also have no idea what you said.”

     Dan swallows his bite of cake, repeats, “This is good,” and follows Phil back into the living room to resume the movie.

 -*-*-*-*-*-*-

     An hour later, the movie is over and Dan has eaten three pieces of cake.

     “Uggghhhhh, I feel horrible.”

     “I told you to pace yourself, but nooooo.”

     Dan collapses heavily on the bed and makes whale noises.

     “I’ll listen next time. Uggghhhhh.”

     Phil lays down next to him and props himself up on one elbow.

     “If you could have any superpower, what would it be? And don’t say, like, god-powers or the ability to give yourself unlimited powers or something.”

     Dan lays still for a while, and Phil is almost convinced he’s dozed off when Dan says, “Letting people be what they want to be. So if you want to be human, great, if a boy wants to be a girl, fine, heck, if someone want to be a rockstar, go live the dream. Just- to let people live their lives as they want to live them.”

     Phil chuckles.

     “I was thinking more along the lines of flying or telekinesis.”

     “Oh, sorry.”

     “No, don’t apologize! That’s such a good superpower, and it would be so helpful and improve people’s lives so much. I feel a little embarrassed saying this after your lofty goals, but I would want to fly. It seems really free and calm and useful.”

     Dan smiles.

     “No, that’s a great choice. Now stop trying to have intense philosophical discussions with me at midnight and go to sleep.”

     They curl up together under the covers, and Phil dreams of the sun.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Dan, Phil, PJ, and a mutual friend of Dan and PJ’s named Chris are all sitting around watching the news, where for the last hour BBC has been giving updates on the potential anti-vampire-discrimination law being voted on.

     Chris sits back in his chair.

     “There’s no way they’re going to pass it. Parliament is made of about 90% old white guys who think vampires are out to steal souls and their daughters’ virginity.”

     PJ lightly kicks him and turns to Phil, who looks pretty downtrodden.

     “They could pass it. Attitudes have changed a lot since vamps went public. Most of us personally know at least one person who’s been turned. And ever since Prince William was turned, the royal family has been supportive of equal rights measures.”

     Dan shushes them and directs their attention to the TV, where the reporters are whirling around in a frenzy.

     “They have reached a decision. We go live to Melissa, who is standing in front of the Parliament building.”

     Melissa nods.

     “Thanks Jim. You heard it here first, folks, Hybrid Bill 109, affectionately nicknamed the ‘Vampire Rights’ bill by supporters, has passed both houses by a slim margin-”

     Whatever Melissa’s next words were going to be are drowned out by cheers from the four young men sitting around the TV.

     “Congratulations Phil!”, PJ says as he claps him on the back. “I’m happy I was wrong, this is great news.”

     PJ doesn’t get the chance to say anything else as Dan throws himself at Phil and kisses him hard. He lets go after a few seconds and rests his head on Phil’s shoulder.

     “I’m so happy for you.”

     Chris laughs and pokes at Dan.

     “C’mon Dan, let the rest of us congratulate Phil too.”

     Dan releases Phil reluctantly and gets a hug from PJ while Chris shakes Phil’s hand.

     “Awesome news man.”

     PJ runs into the kitchen screeching, “Caaaakkke”, and they all meander into the kitchen after him, where they’re ambushed by confetti. Dan splutters shiny multicolored bats out of his mouth, and glares at PJ through the haze of confetti.

     “I thought I made it clear that my one rule was ‘no confetti’.”

     PJ shrugs nonchalantly and goes back to cutting the cake, which he hands out to Dan and Chris. Phil is standing at the back of the group zoning out when PJ gestures him over.

     “So, it’s super expensive, and really hard to find, but there’s this sort-of ice cream sold downtown that uses blood instead of milk. I don’t really know all the specifics, but vampires can eat it, so I got you a pint.”

     With that, he hands over an opaque tub of ice cream and a spoon. Phil is gaping at him in shock, and then he lurches forward and hugs PJ.

     “Thank you so much, I didn’t think I would ever get to eat ice cream again.”

     PJ smiles at Dan over Phil’s shoulder, and Dan beams right back. They all go out to sit on the couch, and Dan pops in a Star Wars disc while everyone starts eating. When Phil takes a spoonful of his ice cream and starts crying, everyone is a little concerned, but he waves them off with, “I just really liked ice cream.” He finishes the little tub before anyone has eaten even half of their cake, and then curls up with his head on Dan’s lap.

     Dan threads his fingers through Phil’s hair, and murmurs, “So, what did it taste like?”

     Phil smiles brightly.

     “Sweet. I haven’t tasted something sweet in a _year_.”

     “We’ll have to get the address PJ got this from, to get more. Maybe we should look around, see if there are any more foods like this that can be adapted to be vampire friendly.”

     Phil nods, and they go back to watching the TV.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     The news the next day is far less cause for celebration. Dan is eating cereal and watching BBC when they announce that the staked body of a vampire was found with its fangs torn out, floating in the Thames. Dan flips the television off as fast as he can, but when Phil walks into the kitchen with tear tracks in his face Dan knows he wasn’t quick enough. Phil slumps into a chair and says thickly,“Why do people hate us so much? What did we do?” Dan rubs Phil’s back and struggles to figure out how people can be so evil. He comes up with nothing.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Three days, and three more dead. Dan knows it must bother Phil, but he avoids the topic, and Dan can’t blame him. They solve puzzles and watch Netflix, and if Phil is more desperately cuddly than he’s ever been, Dan doesn’t mention it.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Five days of this, and Phil is prowling around the house like a caged animal. Dan has been keeping track of the killings, even if Phil hasn’t, and the dead have been getting steadily further away. So when Dan finally gets fed up with the constant tension, he feels relatively secure in asking Phil to go out.

     “Hey Phil.”

     Phil stops his manic pacing and looks at Dan.

     “We’re out of milk and eggs. Do you want to go with me to the corner store?”

     Phil nods, and then inquires, “Actually, can I go by myself? It’s just down the road, and I think we’d both like five minutes to ourselves.”

     Dan hesitates, but Phil looks so excited, and he figures they can’t be scared forever.

     “Sure.”

     Phil whoops, grabs his wallet and coat, presses a quick kiss to Dan’s lips, and runs out the door.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Twenty minutes later, Phil isn’t back. Dan knows he’s being silly, but the memory of the night they both nearly died keeps popping into his head. So he grabs his coat and a baseball bat he isn’t sure how they came to possess, and flings himself out into the night.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     "Hey Dan, I’m sorry I took so long, they had a new cashier and she rang me up wrong like, four times. I’ll be home soon. Love you.”

     Phil ends the call, and shoves his phone back into his pocket. That’s when he sees someone lying on the sidewalk against one of the buildings lining the road.

     “Hey, are you okay?”

     He leans cautiously towards the figure, and that’s when the smell of blood hits him. It smells like sunshine and home, it smells _familiar_ , but that’s impossible. Phil rolls them over and it’s Dan, clutching his phone with Phil’s number half typed, and covered in blood. Phil releases a sob and scoops Dan up into his lap. Dan’s head lolls against his shoulder, and his eyes are barely open as Phil tries uselessly to put pressure on the crater in his chest. He doesn’t know what to do, everything’s useless and the hospital is too far away and he wishes he could save Dan like he had saved Phil, but Phil can’t heal. He can only change. He knows Dan can’t hear him, but he whispers into Dan’s hairline anyway; I love you, I love you, I love you.

     Tears are slipping from Dan’s eyes, and Phil hates whoever did this, whoever stole the years of humanity Dan could have had; should have had. Phil can’t imagine Dan cold and pale and hungry, but a world without Dan is even more unthinkable, so Phil does what he has to do. He eases Dan around until he’s straddling Phil’s lap in a grotesque parody of the first time Phil fed. He doesn’t have anything else, so Phil ends up using his keys to saw into his neck. Rivulets of blood stream down his neck, and he has to clench his jaw to keep from screaming. He props Dan’s head on his shoulder and holds him there until he feels a dull pull at his throat, then bites into Dan.

      He knows some of the anaesthetic on his fangs has to be in Dan for the change to work, but as soon as he’s sure there’s enough in Dan’s system, he releases him and closes up his bites. Phil holds Dan close to try and staunch the bleeding as much as possible, and relaxes slightly when he feels the pull at his throat increase incrementally. He sits cradling Dan for several minutes, until he’s sure that Dan has had enough of his blood, and then Phil wraps him up in his jacket and carries him home.

     As soon as they get home, Phil washes most of the blood off Dan’s slowly healing stab wound, lays him on the bed, and calls PJ. It’s nearly one in the morning, but as soon as he hears Phil’s sobs he starts throwing on clothes.

     “Fuck Phil, what happened? Please don’t say…”

     Phil sniffles miserably, and jumps in.

     “No Dan’s alive, he just-I had to-”

     “It’s okay, I get the gist. Go take care of him, and I’ll be right over.”

     Phil whispers a harsh “Thank you” into the phone, and rushes back to the bedroom. Dan is steadily becoming paler and paler, and Phil barely holds it together when he sees the fangs poking out from under his top lip. He holds Dan’s hand and waits, and gets to the door instantaneously when it rings.

     PJ nods at him, gives him a quick hug, and then holds out his arm.

    “Fresh blood makes them stronger, but he’ll drain me if I’m his first meal.” He smiles tersely. “You’re the ideal go-between.”

     Phil is a little surprised, but he takes the proffered arm and tugs PJ over to the couch.

     “Don’t you have any questions about what happened?”

     “Yeah, but they can wait. All that matters right now is making sure you guys are okay, I can satisfy my curiosity later.”

     Phil pulls PJ’s arm in front of his face and looks over at him.

     “Sure you’re okay Peej?”

     PJ rolls his eyes, and then Phil bites into his arm.

     “Bloody hell… oh, that’s better.”

     Phil pats PJ’s arm in what he hopes is a vaguely comforting gesture, and starts gulping down blood. PJ rests his forehead against Phil’s shoulder and waits, and fairly quickly afterwards Phil releases his wrist, licks the punctures shut, and eases PJ back onto the couch. PJ’s eyes are at half mast, but he says, fairly clearly, “Go help Dan. I’ll be okay,” and that’s all Phil needs to go running back to the bedroom. He curls up around Dan, who is feeling noticeably cool to the touch, and waits.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     Three hours later, and Phil can hear Dan’s heart start beating slightly faster. He gets up, locks the door to prevent accidental friend-murdering, and dims the lights so they’ll be gentle on Dan’s new eyes. When he turns around, Dan has pushed himself up slightly, and his pupils seem to be dilating and expanding rapidly. He’s visibly disorientated, eyes darting around but never focusing on anything, and Phil knows he needs blood before he starts gnawing on himself or passes out again. He goes and sits on the bed, and when Dan focuses on him Phil bites into his wrist and offers it to Dan.

     Dan’s entire body flinches when he smells the blood, and his eyes stop yo-yoing and stay nearly all pupil. He leans forward, pulls Phil’s wrist up, and bites. He’s sloppy and bites way too hard, but Phil just pets his hair, and waits. Three minutes later, and Dan releases his arm and lets out a screech. Phil closes up the ragged bites in his arm while Dan pieces together what happened.

     “You-you went out-and I got stabbed-and-and-and I bit you!”

     Phil scoots over to him, very slowly, and hugs him. He’s sobbing, and Dan starts crying too as he finally realises what Phil had to do.

     “I-I’m sorry. I had to turn you.”

     “I tried to call you but I started shaking too much. I thought I was dying, and I just-Fuck, I needed to hear your voice, but I couldn’t-.”

     “Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s over. I love you.”

     Dan whispers, “I love you too.”

     There’s a knock at the door, and PJ yells, “I heard screaming, so I’m guessing Dan woke up. Is he alright? Would he be okay if I came in?”

     Dan looks terrified for a minute, but he’s sure he could never hurt Peej, and Phil’s right there, so he nods. Phil walks over and opens the door. The smell of blood is strong, but Dan doesn’t feel like it’s any worse than any other tasty thing he’s smelled, and he starts having a minor freakout about how blood is ‘tasty’, when PJ runs up and hugs him. Dan starts crying again, and PJ joins in. A long time later, and after deciding that the story can wait until the next day, they’re watching a movie to zone out. Dan has his best friend on his left and the love of his life on his right, and he’s still freaking out, but with them by his side he knows he’ll get through this.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     The next morning, Dan opens his eyes to see PJ and Phil sitting in chairs across from his couch and staring.

     “Oh, good, you’re awake.”

     Dan snorts at PJ.

     “Creepy staring usually does that.”

     Phil smiles slightly, and then says, “Dan, we need to know what happened.”

     Dan sighs, and Phil isn’t sure if Dan noticed when he put a hand to his chest.

     “I was worried, because Phil had been out for an insanely long time to go to the store and back. I grabbed a baseball bat and went to fetch him. I was just walking when some guy wearing a whole bunch of crosses attacked me. I’m not sure if he thought I was a vampire because I’m pale or was armed or what, but he managed to stake me. When he went to get my ‘fangs’, he must’ve realized I was human, and left me to die.”

     Dan stops, and struggles to get out the next words.

     “I… I thought I was going to die. No one knew where I was, and there was so much blood…”

     Phil waves his hands to cut Dan off.

     “We’re good, that’s more than enough information for us. PJ is going to go to the police later and tell them what happened.”

     Dan nods, eyes glistening, and Phil moves onto the couch to hug him.

     “Hey, it’s okay, they’re going to catch him.”

     PJ pulls out his phone, looks at the screen, and stands up.

     “I can just make the first bus to the stop near the police station, which should put me there in time to catch the night detective who’s been handling this case.”

     He shakes hands with Phil, gives Dan a hug, and jogs out of the room. The door slams a moment later, and Dan and Phil look at each other. Phil smiles.

     “Time to give you the super-secret information on vampires.” He stops. “Actually, nearly everyone knows this stuff, but occasionally someone doesn’t, which is why they encourage giving this speech to all newborns.”

     Dan nods for Phil to continue.

     “Okay, first off, the sun does nothing, we heal fast enough that we can’t even get a tan, nevermind burn. Garlic will make you sick, but so will any other human food if you eat it. Religious stuff has no effect, crossing running water isn’t an issue unless you’re seasick, and if it’s something Stoker came up with, it definitely won’t matter. Iron won’t do anything, but silver does burn.”

     Phil hesitates, then forges ahead.

     “Being staked in the heart or beheaded is the only way to kill us. Stake doesn’t have to be wood, I’m guessing that’s just all they had back then.”

     Dan nods, but his eyes are going teary again. Phil pulls him close and frowns.

     “I’m sorry, I know that has to be a really upsetting subject for you. I can tell you how to turn people and how to feed and stuff later.”

     Dan hides his face in Phil’s sweater and breathes in, over and over, until all he can smell is Phil, and Phil lays back until they’re both horizontal. Dan smiles, because he thinks he knows why Phil always ended up crushing his chest. Dan can hear Phil’s heartbeat, and feel him breathe, and the reassurance that Phil is 100% okay lets Dan drift off to sleep.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     It’s been a week since Dan was turned, and Phil is starting to get worried. He only has a blood bag when Phil all but makes him, he isn’t sleeping well, and several times Phil has found him hiding in the closet, curled up on top of the highest shelf and in the middle of a panic attack. When Phil walks into the bedroom to find Dan crying, he knows they need to have a conversation, and although he’s been trying to give Dan space, it can’t wait.

     Phil walks over and holds Dan until he stops crying, then says, “If you’re having trouble dealing with this, we can find a therapist. I still have a card from some vampire-specialty psychologist, I can schedule an appointment.”

     Dan nods, and Phil says, “If you want, we can talk too. I know this was really abrupt and scary, and you’re probably afraid-”

     Dan cuts in.

     “I’m not _afraid_. I mean, I am sometimes, but that’s not why I’ve been so messed up. I just- I feel so bloody _useless_.”

     Phil tilts his head.

     “Why?”

     Dan’s shoulders cave in.

     “I can’t give you blood anymore. You’re back to bagged blood and headaches, and I can’t help. And I’m not warm for you anymore.”

     Phil’s shoulders start shaking, and at first Dan thinks he’s crying until he turns and Dan can see the huge smile on his face.

     “You utter idiot! I don’t care if you can’t give me blood anymore, or keep me warm, because I love you.”

     Dan frowns.

     “But we’re still stuck with horrible blood.”

     Phil shakes his head.

     “No we’re not. That morning while we were waiting for you to wake up, PJ volunteered his blood, and said he was going to talk to Chris. He’s on board too, and they have a couple more friends who are willing to help out if need be. I was planning on telling you as soon as you stopped shredding your blood-bags.”

     Dan’s eyes are wide as he stares at Phil in shock, and then he leans forward and pulls Phil into a kiss. A few seconds later, Dan sits back.

     “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

    Phil smirks.

    “I don’t know, probably killed someone, or burned down an orphanage for sick puppies.”

    Dan punches his arm, and they migrate under the covers, which thoughtfully include a heating blanket. Phil turns it on high, and they bask in the warmth and drift off together.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

     “Sorry Peej, Chris tastes significantly better than you.”

     “No way. I eat, like, salads and shit. He eats a steady diet of fried food and sugar.”

     Phil nods thoughtfully.

     “Never did like salad.”

     PJ throws a pillow at him from where he’s reclining on the sofa, and drops his head back onto the couch. In the meantime, Dan stops drinking and closes up the bites in Chris’ arm, then carries him over to the other sofa to rest. This is the third time they’ve had one of these ‘parties’, and it’s still a little disconcerting for everyone involved. On the bright side, neither Dan nor Phil is getting headaches anymore, and both PJ and Chris have assured them multiple times that they’ll take blood loss if it makes Dan less grumpy.

     Chris stands up drunkenly and meanders over to PJ’s sofa, where he drops and starts trying to hug PJ.

     “Um, what are you doing?”

     Chris rolls his eyes.

     “Trying to cuddle, you moron. I think I’m comfortable enough in my sexuality to have some cuddle time with my totally platonic friend.”

     PJ sighs, but he stops Chris from falling off the couch, and soon enough they’re curled up together fast asleep.

     Phil whispers to Dan, “I ship it.”

     Dan swats him.

     “In case you don’t remember, I needed cuddles too. I’m surprised they didn’t cuddle the other times, to be honest. If for no other reason than the blood loss makes you cold.”

     They set out juice and chips for their friends in case they wake up, and wander back to the bedroom. When Phil wraps his arms around Dan under the covers, Dan sighs happily.

     “We’re both warm.”

     Phil nuzzles into his neck, twines their fingers together, and whispers an ‘I love you’ in his ear, and Dan knows life isn’t perfect, but this feels damn near close.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first fic, so please comment! Constructive criticism would be appreciated, as I desperately want to improve. Also, I hate formatting and I'm bad at it, so if someone would volunteer to beta read that would be great. Don't worry, you won't get saddled with horrible spelling/grammar, just weird spaces and the occasional plot question. Have a lovely day!
> 
> (So I don't know what ao3 did, but in my googledocs this is exactly 17000 words., I finished at 17005, and I was damned if I wasn't ending on an even number. So I edited out five words. Ha. Geez I'm a nerd. Except now all of that work doesn't matter.)


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